Collar & Undercollar tips from Vitale Barbers Canonico

Vitale Barberis Canonico, one of the oldest woollen mills of the world, celebrates bespoke tailoring with the project Tailor’s Tips, a series of 12 videos in which the master tailor Giovanni Barberis Organista, directed by Gianluca Migliarotti, tells what happens behind the scenes when a hand-stitched suit is created.

The sixth episode is about collars and undercollars.

The undercollar is felt, reinforced with hemp cloth, either hemp or linen, a rather large cloth reinforcement which has to be done on the bias and must conform to the shape of the collar.

It is fixed entirely by hand, with an overlock stitch which fixes the felt well, without making it too stiff. During the fixing of it, you must also take the under part besides the fabric, even the insides, meaning the camel cloth and the reinforcements in the shoulder. To secure the thread, you go undrneath and secure it with two stitches.

The collar should be soft, so it turns well, and has the right softness. This is the fabric which allows you to work with it, to loosen it. In this way, you have a cover that adheres perfectly.

Once the collar is basted with the right looseness, so that it can turn and the tip can fold downward, the tips are finished.

You check that the corner is perfect and proceed with the fixing of the fold of the uppercollar. Near the tip, push the corner in a little and in becomes a bit blunted, rounded. If everything is correct, you fix the thread with a few back-stitches. The basting can be taken out now. The upper part is ironed and then the basting taken out.